Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo sits in the pocket during a game against the New Orleans Saints at Cowboys Stadium in December / Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports

by USA TODAY Sports Staff, USA TODAY

by USA TODAY Sports Staff, USA TODAY

PHOENIX -- Jerry Jones is sure of two things: The Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo will come to an agreement soon on an extension, and Romo will "not be paid to be a bus driver."

(Of course, there's no disgrace in that, given how the Cowboys are traveling these days. Somebody has to be trusted with the Jonesmobile, a 45-foot-long luxury motor coach the owner purchased recently and took to the NFL scouting combine. It ain't exactly a soccer mom's minivan.)

But if he isn't driving the bus, Romo certainly is driving the discussion, and Jones addressed the quarterback's contract negotiations during a break in the NFL owners' meetings Tuesday. While Jones believes a deal will be done soon, he refused to pick a date.

"We all have to decide what that day is, everybody involved -- his agents, him, me," Jones said. "It's not a concern of mine.

"The point that I do want to make, if we make this kind of commitment, is that I feel good about making it. I feel good about where he is in his career. I feel good about the time he has spent with (head coach) Jason Garrett and (quarterbacks coach) Wade Wilson. But with (new offensive coordinator) Bill Callahan involved, I do expect some new wrinkles, so to speak, relative to what Tony Romo can do."

In other words, the coaches have to do a better job.

Romo, 32, threw for 4,903 yards last season while tossing 28 touchdown passes. But he also led the league (tying New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees) with 19 interceptions, the most Romo has thrown since 2007.

After watching Tom Brady take less than market value to give the New England Patriots salary-cap room to sign players (except Wes Welker, of course), the Cowboys are eager to strike a deal with Romo, who will count $16.8 million against the cap next year.

Hamstrung by salary-cap penalties, the Cowboys could use some relief this year, too: Jones said the team has only "five figures" in cap room available after signing linebacker Ernie Sims to a one-year deal for the league minimum on Sunday.

Fans, understandably frustrated at the Cowboys' quiet off-season, want Jones to run the fiscal hurry-up offense and create some cap space â?? even if it's just for draft picks, undrafted free agents and a rainy day.

"Probably what concerns (the fans) about a timetable is that they don't know if it'll be weeks out," Jones said. "I have a better feel for it than that. We're involved in dialogue, we're involved in negotiations. It's not the thing to do, him or me, to say that we'll have something done by midnight or tomorrow unless it's that imminent.

"You can't get that answer because you don't have it all ready to sign it. But I'm not concerned that it'll be drawn out."